After powerful winds ripped through the region Tuesday night, thousands of homes and businesses in Northwest Montana remained without power on Thursday, with some outages expected to continue through today.

Winds gusted over 50 miles per hour in the Flathead Valley, reaching the 60s at higher altitudes, toppling trees and snapping powerlines.

The National Weather Service classified the intense storm as a weather event unlikely to occur more than once in a 10-year period.

More than 1,400 members of Flathead Electric Cooperative were still without power Thursday afternoon out of an estimated 13,000 who had been affected. The utility serves about 49,000 customers across Northwest Montana.

Some residents in the Bigfork, Libby and Bad Rock Canyon areas have been without power for more than 48 hours, and Flathead Electric spokeswoman Wendy Ostrom Price said that may continue as snapped power poles still need to be replaced.

In Bigfork, crews were still working to bring a major transmission line back to life early Thursday evening.

She noted Thursday that while some customers had expressed consternation that they were still in the dark while their neighbors had power, crews were prioritizing the larger power outages that affected the most members.

“We’d love to repair everybody, but with 172 [without electricity] over there, we have to repair them first,” she said.

The more than 100 separate outages have been spread throughout the utility’s coverage area, and it is the largest outage event the utility has ever experienced.

“We handled over 1,600 calls yesterday — that’s twice the number of calls from our highest call date,” Ostrom Price said. “We look at critical infrastructure: a hospital, a school, they are going to be prioritized.”

The utility was still getting reports of new outages in the early morning hours on Thursday.

Throughout the day, tree crews continued with cleanup. At least two cars in Evergreen were smashed by wind-blown trees during the storm, and Glacier National Park spokeswoman Sonya Hartmann said a home in West Glacier had been damaged.

Hartmann added that fallen trees had blocked some roads in the park, but all roads not already closed by snow had reopened as of Thursday afternoon.

Ostrom Price thanked people who had been patient with the outages, noting that Flathead Electric crews had been working around the clock since early Tuesday night, and many utility customers had called in appreciation of their efforts.

She added that other utilities in Western Montana were anticipating that it could take weeks before power is fully restored throughout their coverage areas.

Flathead Electric asks that people never attempt to drive over or touch a downed wire.

To report an outage, contact the utility at 751-4449.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.